Get even more piano-playing advice and inspiration with our monthly newsletters straight to your inbox. Having begun his career as a performance artist, Gordon has produced a diverse body of works, which has grown to include video, sound photographic objects, and texts, often plays with viewers’ perceptions, memories and expectations. Presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia for the 19th Biennale of Sydney (2014), Phantom (2011) is one of Douglas Gordon’s most extreme … A grand piano burning on the moors of northern England as the sun begins to set is just one of the evocative images in Douglas's new video. DOUGLAS GORDON -Phantom, 2011 - Video installation with soundStage, screen, a black Steinway piano, a burned Steinway piano, one monitor - Dimensions variable Phantom of Pain Phantom, the installation presently on show at Gagosian, was conceived and created in 2011, in collaboration with American singer - songwriter Rufus Wainwright. As with his other burnt instrument … The remainder of the squadron felt the most appropriate tribute was to burn his piano. Photograph: Colin Davison. We do sincerely hope that this brief account of piano burning evaporates any initial conc… Not long to go, though. The Douglas Gordon and Morgane Tschiember piece looks most intriguing. By Clare Henry. Harriet Dean, whose ancestors have owned the place since the 1150s, farms her sheep at Talkin Head, runs the holiday cottages where the film crew has been based and has been providing their catering. Filmed near Brampton in Cumbria his film features a grand piano burning on a hill top with the Border in the background. He lives and works in Berlin, Germany. But when the pilot was killed in battle, the tunes ceased. Beth Bate, director of Great North Run Culture, said: " We're delighted to be working with Douglas Gordon and again with our partners Locus+. From Biennale of Sydney, Douglas Gordon, Phantom (video still) (2011), Stage, screen, a black Steinway piano, a burned Steinway piano and monitor RCM graduate Alec Coles-Aldridge delves into the meaning behind piano burning ceremonies. One unlikely story claims that a piano was “delivered” by an F-15E Strike Eagle prior to burning! Douglas Gordon's The End of Civilisation is a Great North Run Culture and Locus+ True Spirit co-commission. From Hollywood films to scientific footage to classical literature, Douglas Gordon takes the seemingly familiar and twists it. The loudest noise you normally hear is the call of the curlews or the mewing of buzzards overhead. We do sincerely hope that this brief account of piano burning evaporates any initial concerns surrounding why pianos are burnt. Another piano burns tonight and tomorrow the film crew will pack up their huge quantity of equipment and the farm will revert to the tranquillity that it has enjoyed for the last 850 years – until the next Scottish invasion. The below picture shows the artist burning what might be piano music. 2006, Douglas Gordon, Self Portrait of you & me (Steve McQueen), Made of cut-out colour coupler print with smoke and mirror on artist's mount Douglas Gordon Self Portrait of you & me (Steve McQueen) , cut-out colour coupler print with smoke and mirror on artist's mount 19 1/8 x 15¼in. After the Newcastle premiere it tours to form part of a Douglas Gordon retrospective in Tel Aviv and will then be shown at film festivals and exhibitions in Venice, New York, Berlin and London. The crackling sounds of fire pervade the room, and one of the screens shows a burning object. Douglas, probably best known for Zinedine Zidane: A 21st century Portrait, explained the symbolism of the piano burning: "a piano started to represent for me the ultimate symbol of western civilisation. We use cookies to improve your experience of this website by remembering your usage preferences, collecting statistics, and targeting relevant content. He won the Turner Prize in 1996, the Premio 2000 at the 47th Venice Biennale in 1997 and the Hugo Boss Prize in 1998. In April, he’ll be showing his forthcoming film k.364 at the DCA so I’m very much looking forward to that. Gordon is somewhat known for his burned portraits, often of celebrities and famous artists. What is known more truthfully is that piano burning ceremonies are still an essential part of the Royal Air Force, and the tradition has spread across the pond to the United States. Douglas Gordon (born 20 September 1966) is a Scottish artist. Initially somewhat sceptical about the project, she has been won over and says: I've been thrilled to welcome such an amazing group of talented people here. Signed Douglas Gordon is a contemporary Scottish artist known for his ability to disrupt preconceived ideas about reality. By Alec Coles-Aldridge. On Friday I sat and watched a grand piano burn for two hours. (48.6 x 38.8cm.) You can imagine the Scots looking over the wall and thinking "what the hell are those Romans up to now?" Find an in-depth biography, exhibitions, original artworks for sale, the latest news, and sold auction prices. The exhibition Douglas Gordon: The Morning After was scheduled to open at the Giacometti Institute in Paris on April 24, 2020, placing original works by Gordon side by side with those of Alberto Giacometti.Unfortunately, owing to the covid-19 crisis, the exhibition had to be delayed for a year.As a result, the institution has invited Douglas Gordon to collaborate on several activities … The Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota set fire to a piano as part of the 2011 Mona Foma arts festival in Tasmania. Douglas Gordon plots of the destruction of the piano. Squire Gordon is relieved that Black Beauty saved John's life. A heavily made-up eye appears on the white background of the projection screen as Rufus Wainwright's voice and music fill up the space. When Jon Bewley of Locus+ led me to here, I thought it was beautiful to look from one country into another and I liked the idea Hadrian's Wall is, under a certain interpretation, a great end of civilisation. Douglas Gordon (born 20 September 1966) is a Scottish artist. Work. A grand piano burning on the moors of northern England as the sun begins to set is just one of the evocative images in Douglas's new video. It seems like there’s definitely an element of risk in creating these works, although the floor of the studio seems well suited to this sort of art-making. He won the Turner Prize in 1996, the Premio 2000 at the 47th Venice Biennale in 1997 and the Hugo Boss Prize in 1998. The border theme will be continued when the film gets its premiere, on July 5th and 6th at the Tyne Theatre & Opera House, built on the line of Hadrian's Wall in central Newcastle. The scene was simple and arresting. Two of his most notable works involving piano burning were his 1965 Piano de Néron (Nero's Piano) and his 1966 Piano Flamboyant (Flaming Piano). Burning grand pianos on the Scottish border Turner Prizewinner Douglas Gordon shoots his first film in England, bringing work as well as carefully-managed arson to a Cumbrian nook. A second one goes up tonight. On the side closer to the door are the remains of a burnt piano and a new Steinway, glaringly juxtaposed. Much of Gordon's work is seen as being about memory and uses repetition in various forms. Go to the content Go to the footer Close On stage in front of the screen, a baby grand piano stands over another piano that has been burnt to ashes—a recurring symbol for Gordon that here might allude to the cyclical nature of life. Where the music's hot... Up goes a grand piano at Talkin Head. Not only is it an instrument, it's a beautiful object that works as a sculpture but it has another function entirely", "I wanted to do something with a piano in a landscape of some significance and I suppose, as a Scotsman, there's nothing more significant than the border. But of course technically with what we're doing with the 360 degree camera, there is no end or start of civilisation. The procedure of piano burning ceremonies vary; some are carried out quite literally as it says on the tin, whilst others start with a pre-burning attack on the piano by sledgehammer-wielding pilots. Soon, Raffles, the dog, smells the smoke as well and starts to bark, alerting Squire Gordon and the townsfolk. Not only is it an instrument, it's a beautiful object that works as a sculpture but it has another function entirely." Photograph: Colin Davison, It's not over 'til the piano singes. They are now usually held after the passing of comrades; in 2015 a piano was burnt to remember two British Servicemen killed in a helicopter crash in Kabul, Afghanistan. Read more from him below: 5 remarkable health benefits of playing the piano, Main image: Flight Lt. Euan McFalls from the RAF helps explain the tradition of burning pianos, Company Registered in England no. They are held as a commemoration for disbanded units; in 2014 the 65th Aggressor Squadron, part of the 57th Adversary Tactics Group (United States Air Force), burnt a piano in response to the deactivation of the unit. I didn’t know what to expect – always a good place to start from; we never really … In the night, Black Beauty smells a burning smell and Merrylegs tells them it's coming from the bags. Claims have been made that the growth of the Royal Air Force during World War One resulted in the widening of recruitment beyond the “gentleman”. It is worth adding that the pianos burnt are not Steinway grand pianos; usually cheaper upright pianos are subject to the flames! Dec 10, 2016 - The 22nd Biennale of Sydney, titled NIRIN, returns in 2020 from 14 March to 8 June, with Artistic Director Brook Andrew. The final screen reveals the object to be a flaming grand piano. ... Douglas Gordon: The End of Civilisation. Alongside military traditions, piano burning has been included in visual art. Douglas Gordon: k.364 is at Gagosian Britannia Street, WC1 (020 7841 9960, gagosian.com) until March 26. The charred remains recall a funeral pyre in the desolate landscape. Which is not a sentence I’d ever imagined I might write. On a site overlooking the ‘barbarian border’ between England and Scotland, a beacon is hidden deep within the Cumbrian landscape. But fear not, piano burning ceremonies are not practised by piano-hating cults who ambush them on the way to the Royal Festival Hall. Douglas Gordon : The End of Civilisation A grand piano burns in this epic film by Turner prize-winning Scottish artist Douglas Gordon.